UR Chapter 33

Chapter 33

“Money? How much do you need?”

Somi’s eyes widened as her voice rose, echoing loudly against the cement wall of the quiet alley.

From far away, the sound of dogs barking carried over in response to her sharp tone.

“…About five hundred to a thousand?”

I-bom’s voice shrank to almost a whisper.

“Well… I can’t do five hundred, but I could lend you around three hundred if it’s urgent. I’m not exactly rolling in cash either, but that much is fine.”

She fell silent for a moment, as if thinking something over, then touched her lips with her fingers and let out a deep sigh.

I-bom stepped closer to where Somi was leaning against the concrete wall.

She stared at her fingers for a while, then gave a small nod.

“Give me your account number.”

Somi held out her phone, gesturing for him to type it in.

“Seriously… thank you so much. I’ll pay you back as soon as I take care of this.”

I-bom lowered his head and typed his account number onto her screen.

“So what’s this sudden debt about? You’re always just quietly working. You’re not the type to go cause trouble somewhere.”

Somi asked casually while entering the transfer amount.

Having been through plenty herself, she knew a thing or two about the usual patterns of people who suddenly found themselves in big debt.

But I-bom was nothing like those people.

The I-bom she knew was a steady, ordinary guy who worked hard and looked after his younger sibling.

The kind of person who would rather pick up shifts at a warehouse than borrow five or ten million won from someone.

“It’s just that…”

I-bom began cautiously.

* * *

With Soo-hyun off somewhere taking a phone call, I-bom sat alone in the room.

The silence felt endless.

Ugh, this is boring.

He crouched down, staring blankly at the TV.

―The Pureblood Beastman Association has yet to release a definitive statement. However, they have agreed that the beastman who committed the crime should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

Over and over, he heard the same thing.

Even after flipping through channels, the news was the same everywhere.

―A beastman has mauled a human, leaving the victim in critical condition.

Even the current affairs program I-bom usually enjoyed was repeating the same words, the host looking pale with fear.

He was a famous figure—someone whose words people would believe without question.

On screen, they kept replaying an enlarged, looped clip of a large bird attacking a person.

Even with the footage blurred, the scene was clearly one of chaos and horror.

If it’s scary to me, it must be terrifying to others too.

I-bom rested his face on his knees, chewing on his lower lip, worry flashing across his face.

Things are going to get bad for a while…

Though it had been a pureblood beastman who transformed and committed the attack, most people didn’t care about the differences between purebloods, ordinary beastmen, or half-beastmen.

I-bom was worried he might get caught up in trouble as soon as today.

―At around 6 p.m. today, dozens of people, including members of civic groups, gathered in front of the Seoul Southern Police Station to protest. Here is the footage.

Switching to another channel to avoid the current affairs program, he was met instead with scenes of protesters holding large red-lettered signs.

―Beastmen, get out!

The angry crowd shouted in front of the police station.

If it was the Seoul Southern Police Station, that was a place known for having many beastman officers.

Maybe that’s exactly why they had chosen to gather there.

“Ha…”

I-bom let out a quiet sigh.

It wasn’t like the word ‘beastman’ was written on his forehead, but just seeing those protests made his head ache.

He also worried about how much grief the convenience store manager might give him.

All the talk on TV was suffocating, so he eventually turned it off.

They were just repeating the same hurtful things—he didn’t want to hear any more of it.

“Still… why hasn’t Soo-hyun hyung come back?”

He’d been the one to invite him to watch, but after saying he had to take a call, he never returned.

I-bom craned his neck, glancing around.

“Hyung—”

He called out softly, but no reply came.

He needed to tell him he was leaving.

As he slowly got up and moved toward the door, a voice caught his ear.

“No, listen. That bastard I-jun—”

I-jun?

The familiar name made him freeze.

Carefully turning the doorknob, he opened the door just enough to see Soo-hyun’s profile through the gap.

What’s going on?

I-bom moved slowly, his footsteps quiet.

“Hey, like I could’ve seen that coming. This is all that bastard Kang I-jun’s fault.”

Over the noise of chatter and clinking in the background, the voice on the other end of the call came through clearly.

―So why the hell did you stupidly lend him money?

Amid the mix of pounding music and people’s voices, that question rang sharply in I-bom’s ears.

“Hey, he’s still the smartest among us. Said he could multiply the money, so I believed him.”

―So how much did you lend him?

Soo-hyun dragged a hand through his hair and let out a sigh.

“I don’t care about the pocket money I gave him, but I’ve got some cash I need back quickly.”

―He’s turned his phone off and disappeared. How are you going to get him?

“I don’t know. I’ll just have to tell his grandmother.”

“What… what are you talking about?”

I-bom cut in urgently.

“Oh… I-bom.”

Soo-hyun, looking flustered, lowered the phone he had been holding.

He hurriedly lowered his voice and pressed the volume button several times until the voice on the other end grew quieter.

Through the muffled sound, I-bom could still faintly hear, “Hey, is that I-bom? I-jun’s younger brother?” but his body was stiff with tension, and he could no longer make out the rest.

“Hyung, what was that just now… what does it mean?”

“Uh… you heard all of it?”

Soo-hyun trailed off, glancing sideways at him, then pressed the button to shut the phone off with a rough motion.

“Yes.”

I-bom nodded.

“Ha… I wasn’t going to tell you.”

Soo-hyun bit his lower lip, scratching his head hard.

“Ah, damn it!”

Frustration and discomfort were written all over his face.

“It’s not like you did anything wrong. The problem is that bastard Kang I-jun. No, but—damn it. Listen.”

He bit down on his lower lip before continuing.

“Your brother borrowed money from me, saying he’d make it grow through stocks. You know he went to the best university around here, right? I trusted him because he’s smart. But then he blocked my number and disappeared.”

Soo-hyun let out a deep sigh that seemed to sink into the ground.

“What about school? Did you try contacting them?”

“You didn’t know? I heard he took a leave of absence.”

“What? He told me he needed allowance money for a project.”

“What… project? Wow. So he scammed his own brother too?”

It was the first time I-bom had heard this.

Just this week, his brother had demanded money for schoolwork, yet now it turned out he was on leave.

“If it were just my allowance money, I wouldn’t mind. But the problem is… some of that money came from… other sources.”

“Other… sources?”

I-bom’s face grew paler as he listened.

The fact that his brother had blocked and run from one of his closest friends was shocking enough—but the thought that there was more he hadn’t been told scared him.

“What do you mean, ‘other sources’?”

“I… kind of stole—no, borrowed without asking—some money from my dad.”

Soo-hyun laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head.

I-bom’s eyes went wide.

“Stole…?”

He hadn’t expected this at all.

His father had died after a failed business, leaving behind only debt, but he’d never imagined his brother would cause trouble over money too.

Even so, his brother was good at studying and the only one in the family who’d gone to university. He had hoped that once he graduated, he’d land a good job—but now this.

He had known that Soo-hyun and I-jun sometimes whispered together, planning something behind his back, but he’d assumed it was only minor mischief like betting at the billiard hall or skipping school to hang out.

“It’s the convenience store money.”

“…”

“I took cash from the register. Well… not just once or twice—several times.”

“Ah…”

The moment I-bom heard “convenience store money,” his hand shot up to cover his mouth.

This was something he had heard about before.

He remembered the store manager yelling at him, demanding to know how he was managing the place, treating him like a thief, and threatening to report him if it happened again.

So the store’s persistent loss problem had actually been caused by his brother and Soo-hyun?

“Honestly, I know it was wrong to take it multiple times. But after a few times… my dad checked the CCTV.”

“…Hyung.”

Ah, this is insane.

I-bom shut his eyes tightly.

The truth behind the unfair scolding he had received from the store manager had come out from an unexpected place.

While it was a relief that his innocence was proven, an even bigger problem had just emerged—and that was far from a good thing.